Cranial manipulation modulates cholinergic pathway gene expression in an animal model of age-related cognitive decline

In this study, we examine the effect of cranial osteopathic manipulation (COM) on gene expression, in an animal model for age-related cognitive decline (aged rats). We found that COM significantly affected the expression of 36 genes in the neuronal pathway (False Discovery Rate (FDR) < 0.004). The top five neuronal genes with the largest fold-change (Slc5a7, Chat, Slc18a3, Adcy5 and Cacna2d2, >2-fold change, FDR<0.004) are part of the cholinergic neurotransmission mechanism, which is known to affect cognitive function.本研究以构建年龄相关性认知衰退模型的老年大鼠为受试对象，探究颅整骨疗法（cranial osteopathic manipulation, COM）对基因表达的影响。结果显示，COM可显著调控神经元通路中36个基因的表达（错误发现率（False Discovery Rate, FDR）< 0.004）。其中，折叠变化大于2倍且错误发现率小于0.004的5个表达变化最显著的神经元基因（Slc5a7、Chat、Slc18a3、Adcy5及Cacna2d2），均属于胆碱能神经传递机制的组成部分，而该机制已被证实可影响认知功能。